billsfan89

The Chargers should at least get to 10 wins, which means they will occupy the 5th seed. For the 6th seed I think you have to ask yourself the question will either the Titans, Colts, Ravens, Fins or Bengals get to 9 wins? I think one of those 5 teams will go 4-2 to end the season and get to 9 wins. The Bills aren't making it at 8-8.

The Vikings needed a QB and Cousins was the best one out there. The Vikings shot their shot and it just didn't pan out. I don't think Cousins is bad but the Vikings won't be able to sustain an elite roster around a 28 million dollar a year QB. What made the Cousins move a sensible one was the fact that the Vikings had an elite roster that just needed a QB (Although their O-line was suspect) so that even with a slightly above average QB like Cousins they had a chance to compete. Sometimes you have to go for it in the NFL and that's what the Vikings did. Keenum is a subpar QB (I put him in the Tyrod category, starting caliber but below the Dalton line) they went with the much more expensive option however and it hasn't offered much of an upgrade. Hopefully the Vikings can upgrade the O-line a lot and keep the defense together enough for one more year.

Its hard to say as I don't know how the teams needs will be structured based off how the back 6 games play out. For example if Zay and Teller play lights out to end the year I might approach the draft and free agency differently. Going off of what we know now I would sign a high end center and Guard, plus try to trade for Emmanuel Sanders, while adding a upper echelon WR via free agency. I would also look into resigning EJ Gaines if he hits the market and the price is reasonable. The team should still be able to resign Lorax and Cameron. I would go BPA round one, just add talent to the team if its a dynamic player although I would prefer O-line. Round 2 I would go WR, you need depth and a player waiting in the wings to take over for the older players there. Round 3 I would go RB or TE both positions where the team is older and could use a bit of youth. The mid rounds I would just always draft BPA mostly fill out depth needs and get young players behind vets. Right now I look at the Bills as needing 3-4 impact starters on offense via free agency and 2 additional high draft picks on offense. That's 5-6 supplemental starters needed and possibly finding another corner and some continued depth overall. It should be doable to fill all or most of these needs with the current draft picks and the cap space.

The NFL is a balancing act. The league will always slant the rules towards the offenses because "Chicks dig the long ball" but the defensive minds that make up the game will always adjust to new rules and adapt to new strategies. You saw safeties converted into linebackers and pass coverage becoming a necessity for linebackers to limit the short and intermediate passing game. You saw interior defensive linemen become integral to the pass rush as its a lot quicker to get to the QB over the middle. In 2018 the NFL saw that over the course of the past 4-5 years defenses caught up. Teams like Seattle and Denver fielded teams that had true lock down defenses for at least a few years. Now the NFL has slanted the rules again to help the offenses and the defenses are left to adjust. I have no doubt that in 2-3 years defenses will have adapted and we will see a new sense of balanced play arrive. Its always a game that swings based off of new strategies, even offenses adapted by ditching the fullback for a slot receiver and using the running back as a receiver out of the backfield. I

I am genuinely asking this question but why would the uber wealthy elite whose own fortune and money needs a functioning society in order to actually work and benefit them want to destroy the economies that they and their loved ones live in? It seems to me that if you are a central bank you want the money you are issuing to be as valuable as possible (or at least hold some sort of value.) I just don't see how their motives function with their goals? If you are a billionaire you want the money and assets you hold to actually sustain their value so that you can continue to live the life of a billionaire. It kind of seems counter intuitive to want control at the cost of destroying the very institutions that allow your lavish wealth to exist. I would say that 2019 things will hum along fairly steadily, the tax cut sugar high will still be felt in 2019 but the shallow nature of the tax cuts (Which in my opinion won't do much to improve consumer demand which is the primary underlying need of the economy) but in 2020 the cracks will start to show like they did in 2007 and the crash will likely come in 2021 similar to 2008.

This game delivered big time, a true masterpiece of football. Don't let the high score fool you as there was 3 defensive TD's and several turnovers forced by the defense so while by any metric this game was a high scoring affair this game had great input from both defenses. Its also great to see a new generation of young QB's. Goff and Mahomes are great, Wentz and Watson could be big time too if they recover from their injuries, even Trubisky a player most wrote off as a bust is looking like a viable QB. That's potentially 5 really good young QB's to come into the league in back to back seasons. Marioata and Winston aren't looking so hot but either one could still turn it around. Then you have this current rookie class that could yield multiple good QB's. Even guys like Luck and Cam Newton are still in their prime and continuing to play at a high level. Toss in Matty Ice and Matthew Stafford who are still likely to have 5-6 good years left and you are looking at the NFL having pretty good QB play for the next decade. That's nothing to say of the vet QB's that are still playing at a high level like Big Ben, Brady, Brees, Rodgers, and Rivers all of whom could play 2-4 more seasons at a high levle. I know the rules of the NFL are making it easier to play QB and score more in general but it felt like for years that the NFL was just not having many good QB's entering into the draft. You would be lucky to get 1 Matty Ice trickle in now and again. Now in a lot of drafts it seems like you are seeing good QB's come in much more consistently.

Correlation may not equal causality, it also completely misrepresenting the source and the nature of the "study" as another poster pointed out. Onto the correlation point, I am not saying that there is or isn't a positive correlation between gun access/density and crime but rather that the findings might be not accurately looking at the cause of crime vs. the reason laws were enacted. For example if violent crime is increasing in an area or region, that region will enact gun control laws. The Gun control laws were a response to rising crime not the cause of the rising crime. Whereas if crime isn't a major problem in an area then that area won't enact gun control laws. So the safe nature of an area isn't a result of laxer gun laws but rather a byproduct of it. Crime tends to correlate to relative poverty and lack of opportunity (Which results in single motherhood and a lot of disaffected youth who are the most susceptible to commit crime) above any other factors such as criminal justice and gun control laws. I just don't think gun control or loosening of gun laws correlate that much to general crime.

The Bills didn't offer him a contract. Don't know what you wanted him to do.

Keenan Allen is under contract at a little over 10 million AAV through 2020. I don't think the Chargers are trading their number one receiver unless Allen is demanding a new contract. Allen is 26 and produces like a WR1. I think the Chargers want him part of their future. If Allen was made available (Lets assume he wants a new contract at around 15-17 AAV) I would be willing to trade a 3rd round pick in 2019 plus a late rounder in 2020 for Allen. Allen would be 27 next season and probably anchor the WR core as a low end WR1 for the next 4-5 years. That being said given Rivers age I think they are in a win now situation and probably would do what it takes to keep a good young WR in place.

If the Bills drafts pan out (which the early returns on 2017 look really good and the early returns of 2018 aren't bad either) then I think the team will be just fine. The Bills have not had a regime truly good at drafting in a long time. I do agree the trend in coaching is towards offensive minded coaching systems. But if McBeane can draft well they will be able to find solid coordinators to work with good talent.

This team has enough extra mid round picks to afford to bring in one veteran WR via trade. A vet WR like Emmanuel Sanders helps Allen and young WR's develop. Having a WR that commands respect and is reliable right out of the gate makes Allen's job easier and helps him develop. Having a WR at the top of the heap helps young WR's as they have someone to learn from and it helps them from having to be over exposed early in their career. Did it really hurt Trubisky's development to sign the WR's they signed?

Its Brees's MVP to lose at this point. He and the Saints are having an insane season, Brees has also never won before and is a veteran which makes voters much more willing to vote for him since he is a HOF QB without an MVP award having an MVP season. Sports voters always choose the veteran player who hasn't won one (like Brees) over the young player who might be having a slightly better overall season. Its not good logic but that's just how they operate.

Unless Julio Jones become unexpectedly available there is no true WR1 that will be available via free agency or via trade, and there isn't likely a top dynamic WR prospect in the draft like when Julio, Calvin Johnson, or Sammy/Odell (say what you will about Sammy but he was thought of as a true WR1 prospect right out the gate.) I think a modern NFL offense needs a dynamic pass catching play maker to anchor a core of pass catchers. Having an Odell or Antonio Brown type opens up the offense by having a player that must be accounted for by your best corner and possibly double teams. There are a decent amount of WR2 type players that will be paid well. That's why I would want Sanders out of Denver, he isn't a WR1 but he is close and he is on the last year of his deal which makes the commitment much lower than a free agent. But I am not sure Denver would trade Sanders for a early to mid 4th (which is the most I would be willing to give up for him.) I think that Sanu if available would be a nice addition via trade that once again comes with a limited cap commitment as his salary in 2019 is reasonable and his deal is easy to get out of in 2020. Overall I think the trade market might be better than free agency where a ton of teams will be massively overpaying for receivers and tightends.

Gaines was also expected to get a huge deal coming off of a strong 2017 season and the general thirst for CB play. I think the Bills took a shot on what they thought would a much cheaper shorter commitment option in Vonta while drafting a couple of corners in the mid rounds behind Vonta. I think had the Bills known EJ would go for what he did they probably would have resigned him. I can't blame the Bills for over estimating EJ's market since everyone was projecting EJ to be one of the few top corners available on the market. Most people were estimating that EJ would get 8-10 million per-year on a multi year deal with a sizable guarantee.

I hope she does sue, I also hope she sues the outlets that reported it falsely (Although I am not sure what her chances of winning actually are.) I also hope that the era of corporations being weenies when it comes to any little bit of public pressure (esp public pressure that comes from a progressive stand point although it isn't exclusive to the left) comes to an end. Corporations operated under the way the FCC used to with complaints. They think that for every singular person that complains about something there a 1,000 other people that must have been offended and not complained. But that only somewhat worked 15 to 20 years ago because it was much harder to communicate and complain about things. If something offended someone enough to write a letter or call in a complaint that took a lot of effort to do, so there might have been more validity to that logic when there actually was some effort needed to complain. Now gigantic corporations think that if they get a few tweets about something action is needed as there is such a huge public outcry. Ignoring the fact that tweeting or complaining on social media is so much easier to do than writing a letter or calling. These companies just end up in a negative feedback loop, whereas if they ignored 90% of these kinds of issues they would just go away.

If the Jags are in full rebuild mode then trading Ramsey makes sense. They could be cutting 3 key vet D-line players (Campbell, Dareus, and Malik Jackson) to get out of cap hell along with having major offensive issues (Bortles sucks and they need better skill position players.) If they decide to go with a rookie QB then trading Ramsey for some legit draft picks that could help them trade up for QB or add pieces to a offense lacking critical pieces.

Although people will B word about it at least CB2 is a very real need for the defense, probably one of its few truest intimidate needs. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Bills make that pick. But I would hope they have at least added talent to the WR position via free agency and then go in round 2 and 3 and find some supplemental pass catchers.

The Colts could be back in Super Bowl contention next year considering they have an extra 2nd round pick and 100+ million in cap space. They have Luck, They have an O-line, Mack is a legit RB, and TY and Ebron are two high end targets. They could use some supplemental targets for Luck and a lot of help on defense. But they have the draft picks and the cap space to fill most or even all of those needs. For the first time in his career they have a good GM who has addressed the O-line and put them in a position to acquire a lot of talent both via the draft and free agency. I could see the Colts making big moves on defense like signing Clowney away from the Texans and possibly trading for Jalen Ramsey.

Lynn is an odd case. He didn't have a very prestigious coaching career before the Bills. He was a running backs coach for a bunch of teams (None for more than 2 seasons) before becoming an assistant head coach/running backs coach for the Jets the last few years Rex was there (Well after the Jets back to back AFC title games appearances.) Lynn came is as the running backs coach and assistant head coach for the Bills in 2015. Lynn got promoted to OC a few weeks into the 2016 season and the offense performed about as well as it did in 2015 under Roman (good running game, low turnovers, some passing offense here or there, but a limited passing game against better defenses.) Lynn was also the intern head coach for a game or two in 2016. There was nothing about Lynn's resume or 2016 performance that screamed that he would be a head coaching candidate let alone a good head coach in the league. I can't fault the Bills for not hiring him, he didn't have a great resume or results here.

Dam that sucks. Smith and The Redskins were having a good season probably could have won the division. They probably have to move on from Smith long term too despite the fact that they probably had 2-3 high-end years of Smith left. I hope Smith recovers but this could be a career ender or at the very least an injury that ends both his 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Did I ever claim to have any expertise? No, I just stated that the ***** is complicated. You are inferring something that I never implied.

Doesn't California have issues with drought that makes the conditions for large fires to happen easier? I think it might not be an apples to apples comparison to North Carolina. Just to be clear I don't know if specific policies have made the conditions worse but it seems like the droughts have made the conditions different from a lot of other states.

The only truly negative scenario is Allen gets hurt. At worst the coaching staff gets to see what Allen's weaknesses are and what he needs to work on. At best Allen improves and shows you what he can build on. There is very minimal risk as injury is always a constant factor when deciding to play players. Now I will say if Allen has any minimal injury risk from his current injury don't play him, sit him out for another week or two as needed. There is the long term picture to think of and Barkley can try and build on a strong game. But if Allen is healthy throw him out there.

Remember after the Vikings game when Allen was supposed to be a super star?

The team would certainly be better with Tyrod but not that much better. Lets assume they have the same roster with Tyrod (I don't think they get Edumonds but for sake of argument)I think they win the Texans game with Tyrod and they certainly are more competitive in games but I don't see another game they win with Tyrod, that's puts them at 4-6 instead of 3-7. At 4-6 the team facing a soft back 6 games could possibly get to 9-7 by finishing 5-1 and 9-7 might be enough to get the 6th seed. That being said with or without Tyrod I don't see the team going 9-7. Once again I don't doubt Tyrod makes this team better but only marginally better and this team will likely finish with 5-7 wins without Tyrod and they probably only get one more win with Tyrod and they are far more than 1 game out of a playoff spot by the time the season ends.